Finding God in all things

By Dr. Jonathan Lawrence, Contributing Writer

Where is God? How can we know anything about God? Why does God allow bad things to happen? How do we make sense of the conflicting claims different religions make about God? People have struggled to answer these questions for centuries. Some people have argued that God is all–powerful, all–good and all–knowing, so that whatever God does must therefore be good. Others have blamed bad things on the devil or other personified forms of evil. The Jesuits take a slightly different approach with a principle known as “Finding God in All Things.”

For the Jesuits, this means paying attention to the world around us for signs of God’s presence – in the events in our lives, in the beauty of Creation, in the discoveries of Science and even in our most difficult moments. This shifts the focus from universal answers to an ongoing personal search for meaning – for what God may be telling us in our lives. It also expands the sources of meaning and knowledge about God beyond “religious” texts and concepts to include science, literature, history and our interactions with other cultures and all of nature.

The Jesuits have also applied this approach to other cultures and religions. Differences between religious groups and even within religions have often led to conflicts and violence. Sometimes when Christians encountered other religions, they dismissed or insulted people’s beliefs and practices, pressuring them to reject their old traditions and accept Christianity. In contrast, the Jesuits applied their search for God in all things to their interactions with other religions. They often sought to learn new languages, customs and religious concepts and looked for connections between these new traditions and their own Christian beliefs. In other words, instead of treating other people as enemies or opponents to be conquered they approached them as people worthy of dialogue and encounter. Through that dialogue they could learn more about each other and more about God.

I experienced an example of this kind of dialogue and respect many years ago when I traveled to India with students. One of our hosts described how they allowed everyone to participate in the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Catholics could come forward to receive the Eucharist, other Christians could come forward for a blessing and any Hindus at the school could come forward and share in eating sweets of the same kind that could be offered in Hindu Temples. Rather than force some people to give up their own beliefs and traditions, they were encouraged to participate in a way that was meaningful for them.

We also visited the burial place of St. Francis Xavier, one of St. Ignatius’ companions in the founding of the Jesuits. We saw many Christian pilgrims visiting the church, but we also saw Hindus paying their respects and placing flower necklaces on statues of him just as they would do for statues of the Hindu gods. Similarly, when we attended Mass at some Catholic churches in India, everyone gave each other the sign of peace by saying “Namaste,” and bowing to each other while pressing their hands together. This greeting, sometimes translated as “the divine in me greets the divine in you” was borrowed from Hindu tradition but was absorbed into Christian practice as well.

Our Canisius community is diverse and includes people from different countries, religions (or no religious tradition) and different political perspectives. In some places, such a mixture could lead to misunderstanding and conflicts, and that happens here sometimes too. The Jesuit concept of finding God in all things offers an alternative – recognizing each other as people with value and dignity, looking for what we have in common, learning from each other and, in the process, seeking to learn about God and the world we live in.

To learn more about the Jesuits, you can visit https://www.jesuits.org/.